Saad Aziz

Professional Summary

Architect and hands-on leader behind Nike’s global financial API, powering $50B+ annual volume and 100M+ transactions in 40+ countries with 99.999% uptime. Consistently deliver high-value solutions—cutting operational costs by $300K+ and accelerating integration by 30% through SaaS-to-inhouse migration and automation. 15+ years driving scalable, cloud-native platforms for startups and Fortune 500s. Expert in Java, Node.js, TypeScript, AWS, DevOps, and AI/ML innovation. Recognized for leading distributed teams, aligning technology with business strategy, and shipping resilient products in complex, high-stakes environments.

AI & LLM Engineer, Founder – CareerGPT

Independent / Self-Driven

Dec 2024 – Present

Building CareerGPT: Architected and developed an AI-powered career advisor application leveraging both frontier and open-source LLMs to analyze, summarize, and assess website content by URL.
LLM Engineering: Gained hands-on expertise in running large language models (LLMs) locally (Ollama), integrating APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Cohere), and evaluating model fit for various use cases and business requirements.
RAG Pipelines: Designed and deployed Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) systems—implemented vectorization pipelines, loaded data into vector databases, and visualized high-dimensional embeddings, gaining intuition for clustering, search, and vector space fundamentals.
Full-Stack LLM Solutions: Developed and deployed AI-driven apps with cloud and local deployment options, supporting both cost-effective operations and maximum data privacy for sensitive workflows.
Prompt Engineering & Multi-Model Integration: Built solutions distinguishing between system/user prompts, orchestrated multi-agent LLM architectures, and automated summary, extraction, and analytics using Python, LangChain, Hugging Face, Gradio, and Modal.
Tooling & Infrastructure: Integrated platforms such as Hugging Face, LangChain, Weights & Biases, and Gradio for model serving, monitoring, and rapid experimentation with RAG, fine-tuning, and agentic AI architectures.
AI Model Landscape: Benchmarked and deployed closed-source (GPT-4o, Claude 3.5, Gemini) and open-source (Llama 3, Mixtral, Qwen, Gemma, Phi) models, evaluating trade-offs in accuracy, speed, privacy, and cost.
Continuous Learning: Completed advanced coursework (“LLM in Eight Weeks: Build and Deploy 8 LLM Apps...”) with practical labs in RAG, LoRA, agentic workflows, Python, Jupyter, API design, and local/cloud model execution.
Portfolio Development: Published code and deployed live AI projects on GitHub; contributed to open-source repos and collaborated with the AI developer community.

Senior Software Developer

Johnstone Supply

June 2024 – November 2024

Delivered full-stack features for JohnstoneSupply.com, supporting a $3B+ B2B HVAC business with 400+ locations and 100,000+ SKUs across North America.
Engineered and deployed RESTful microservices for next-gen Elastic Path ERP, boosting transaction capacity and platform scalability by 40%.
Cut API integration time by 30% through automation and streamlined back-end processes.
Partnered with the Director of Digital Applications to ensure technical delivery aligned with enterprise digital transformation goals.
Onboarded to Elastic Path architecture and delivered production-ready API enhancements within 60 days, exceeding onboarding benchmarks.

Senior Software Developer

Software Technology Group

December 2023 – May 2024

Led full-stack development for a next-gen medication management cart platform used in 250+ healthcare facilities, increasing reliability and compliance reporting by 35%.
Delivered a mission-critical product release after prior delays—reducing go-live risk and restoring stakeholder confidence within 90 days.
Assumed a hybrid project management role, realigning timelines and boosting team delivery velocity by 25% through agile process improvements.
Earned an equity offer for demonstrated technical leadership and impact on strategic product direction.
Integrated hardware telemetry with cloud-based dashboards, enabling real-time medical compliance tracking and automated reporting.

Senior Manager of Software Development

Velocity Global

June 2023 – December 2023

Directed full-stack engineering teams building secure, scalable Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions supporting 500,000+ user accounts across global SaaS deployments.
Designed and launched a dedicated IAM microservice—reducing authentication latency by 40% and cutting onboarding time for new applications from weeks to days.
Partnered with CTO to implement a company-wide “paved road” engineering framework, driving a 30% increase in deployment consistency and cross-team productivity.
Established a high-performance engineering culture focused on autonomy, code quality, and rapid iteration—supporting company growth from 300 to 800+ employees during hyper-scale phase.

Engineering Manager – Global Payments

Nike, Inc.

2017 – 2022

Led architecture and delivery of Nike’s global financial transaction API, powering $50B+ annual volume and supporting 100M+ transactions yearly across 40+ countries with 99.9% uptime.
Integrated ERP and real-time data pipelines, reducing reconciliation time by 30% and enabling seamless, auditable financial flows enterprise-wide.
Automated test coverage and CI/CD pipelines, cutting release cycle times by 35% and boosting deployment reliability.
Partnered with global finance, compliance, and engineering teams to deliver secure, scalable, and cloud-native solutions aligned with evolving regulatory standards.
Recognized for leadership in cloud transformation, operational excellence, and scaling distributed engineering teams in a Fortune 100 environment.

Engineering Manager – Billing and DevOps

ShiftWise

2017 – 2018

Led hands-on development of mission-critical backend systems using C#, .NET, MS SQL Server, and Angular to support billing and payment operations.
Drove adoption of Agile methodologies and implemented CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins and GitLab, boosting engineering productivity by 30%.
Designed and deployed scalable RESTful APIs and microservices to facilitate seamless third-party integrations in the healthcare staffing space.
Led DevOps transformation efforts—integrated infrastructure-as-code practices and automated deployment workflows across staging and production environments.
Improved team efficiency by 25% through structured code reviews, cross-functional collaboration, and process optimization.

Engineering Manager – Billing and DevOps

ShiftWise

2017 – 2018

Led development of mission-critical billing and payment systems using C#, .NET, MS SQL Server, and Angular, supporting $500M+ in annual healthcare transactions.
Drove Agile adoption and implemented CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitLab), increasing engineering productivity by 30% and reducing deployment errors by 40%.
Architected and launched scalable RESTful APIs and microservices, enabling seamless integrations with 20+ third-party vendors and platforms.
Pioneered DevOps transformation—integrated infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, CloudFormation) and automated deployments, decreasing release cycle time by 35%.
Boosted team efficiency by 25% through structured code reviews, cross-team collaboration, and continuous process optimization.

Software Engineer – Full Stack (C# Focus)

Providence Health & Services

Jan 2014 – Sep 2014

Consulted on technology modernization for a 10,000+ employee healthcare system—advised on architecture and stack adoption for web development group.
Designed and delivered a high-performance Single Page Application (SPA) with Ember.js, improving user experience and reducing average page load times by 30%.
Developed and optimized MS SQL Server data extracts and operational reports—cutting reporting cycle time by 25%.
Collaborated in Agile sprints, participating in sprint planning, code reviews, and retrospectives to drive project momentum.
Earned a full-time offer for performance and impact; opted to pursue further consulting opportunities.

Software Engineer – Full Stack (C# Focus)

Epiq Systems

Nov 2012 – Mar 2013

Contracted to modernize legacy web applications for a global legal technology provider serving 500+ enterprise clients.
Developed and shipped a responsive web application using vanilla JavaScript and unit testing, reducing client-reported bugs by 40%.
Advised engineering leadership on frontend architecture, implementing SPA patterns with Ember.js and AngularJS to improve maintainability and developer productivity.
Mentored in-house engineers on modern JavaScript practices and clean code standards, accelerating team upskilling and onboarding by 20%.
Received a full-time offer for high-impact contributions; chose to continue in contract consulting.

Software Engineer & Program Management Analyst

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

May 2010 – Nov 2012

Founding member of the Innovation & Informatics Engineering team at Portland VA Medical Center, serving 80,000+ veterans and 2,000+ staff.
Partnered with hospitalists, researchers, and IT leadership to deliver custom web applications that modernized clinical workflows and improved digital infrastructure.
Led requirements gathering, system design, and Agile-based delivery of internal tools—reducing administrative workload for medical staff by 25%.
Served in dual roles across software engineering and program management, aligning product roadmaps with clinical and federal compliance standards.
Institutionalized modern Agile development methodologies, helping to standardize engineering practices across the VA innovation division.

C# Web Software Engineer

Saturno Design

Jun 2008 – Aug 2009

Developed and delivered ASP.NET web applications for law firms, enabling secure document management and case tracking for 500+ active users.
Worked as an individual contributor while collaborating with peers to rapidly troubleshoot and resolve technical issues—reduced average bug resolution time by 35%.
Consistently completed client projects on time and within budget, maintaining 100% project delivery success rate and high client satisfaction scores.
Applied Agile methodologies to prioritize deliverables and facilitate iterative software updates in close partnership with legal clients.

C# Web Software Engineer

myProcess

2007 – 2008

Joined as the first in-house engineer at an early-stage SaaS startup, stabilizing and optimizing an inherited ASP.NET codebase serving 1,000+ users.
Acted as the primary technical lead, coordinating day-to-day development with an offshore engineering team of 6+ members to ensure on-time feature delivery.
Partnered with Operations and Product teams to launch and maintain the company’s core .NET-based SaaS platform, achieving 99.9% uptime in the first year.
Implemented Agile practices, accelerating release cycles by 25% and driving continuous stakeholder feedback into product development.

Education

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science

Portland State University

2008

Skills

Technical Skills

C# / .NET Java (Spring Boot) Python Node.js TypeScript Ember.js / Angular Microservices REST APIs MS SQL / MySQL / DynamoDB / MongoDB AWS / Azure CI/CD Pipelines IAM / OAuth 2.0 Cryptography & Security AI / ML Integrations

Soft Skills

Cross-Functional Leadership Strategic Planning Team Mentorship Project & Product Management Process Optimization Agile / Scrum Methodologies Problem Solving Stakeholder Communication

Languages

English (Fluent / Native) Urdu (Fluent) Punjabi (Conversational) Spanish (Conversational)

Proficiency

Full-Stack Development

Cloud & DevOps (AWS/Azure, CI/CD)

Backend APIs & Microservices

Frontend Frameworks (Angular/Ember)

AI / ML Integrations

Security & Authentication (IAM/OAuth2)

Databases (SQL/NoSQL)

Professional Summary

AI & LLM Engineer, Founder – CareerGPT

Senior Software Developer

Senior Software Developer

Senior Manager of Software Development

Engineering Manager – Global Payments

Engineering Manager – Billing and DevOps

Engineering Manager – Billing and DevOps

Software Engineer – Full Stack (C# Focus)

Software Engineer – Full Stack (C# Focus)

Software Engineer & Program Management Analyst

C# Web Software Engineer

C# Web Software Engineer

Education

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science

Skills

Technical Skills

Soft Skills

Languages

Proficiency

Portfolio/Projects

CareerGPT Platform AI/LLM, SaaS, Microservices

Real-estate Valuation Engine PropTech, AI, Data Engineering